Day 39- Sunday, April 19, 2009

Day 39:

Before I begin, I just want to say that this is by far the hardest post I've ever written. It's probably taken me about an hour and a half. I want to say what I mean, and I want to say it right. I want to treat this subject with the care and respect, and objectivity that it deserves. So here goes.

Today has been a really, really good day. Really.

Andrew was baptized at Norval United. Whatever your feelings are towards religion, traditional indoctrination, The Big Guy In The Sky, and all of that controversial stuff, you have to be willfully ignorant not to get caught up in the atmosphere of Genuine Human Good. 

Religion gets a bad wrap. And at times in our history, it's been very, very deserved. However, we all know that things are not as black and white as our emotions want us to see them. I myself, found a path a long time ago that runs outside of the traditions of organized religion; the Bible story and the traditional Christian scene is simply too small a box for what I believe. However, when any group of people get together and spend an hour or two, or six or ten, all deeply engaged in focusing on one broad idea - Human Good - it's a remarkably profound thing. With all the conflict in the world, with the great unstoppable momentum of nearly seven billion people simply trying to live every day, especially in this day, there is so little time to stop and focus on pure, human goodness.  

I don't care that church isn't my thing. I don't care how "uncool" it is these days. You don't have to believe a single thing anyone tells you in order to sit in a room with these people and be welcomed and loved. Isn't that what's important? I think so, and even as I remind you again that I'm not the traditional churchgoer, I am not at all ashamed or embarrassed to say that church communities can kick a lot of ass. 

C'mon though - church isn't the only place. Go out and join a drum circle or collect litter on Earth Day with your neighbors, have street parties, talk to an old person in the park or volunteer at a hospital! The point is to shake the idea that this modern world is one of disconnect and unstoppable movement towards detached, material, internet-based virtuality, and furthermore to promote a compassion and a goodness whose only rule is this: 

We've all got the same blood in our veins. We are all family.

...  Gosh, this post was supposed to be about my wicked nephew being baptized today and how incredibly happy I am for him and his righteous parents, Jen and Jason.